“Human Rights for the Righteous Humans”: The influence of Brazilian Conservatism on the national perception of human rights

Abstract

In the past years Brazil has been through innumerous corruption scandals and increasing political polarization, which has led to the impeachment of a president and a serious economic crisis. However, these are not the only consequences generated by the clash between the left and the right wing in the country. In right wing populist discourse, human rights have been systematically identified with the political left – as this is captured in the popular conservative saying “Direitos Humanos para Humanos Direitos” (Human Rights for the Righteous Humans), meaning that the fundamental purpose of human rights is the protection of outlaws and the perpetuation of the weakness of that state that has to treat all individuals equally. For the Brazilian far right, human rights are a synonym of exaggerated and harmful “political correctness.” The aim of this paper is to understand how and why the term has become pejorative for a whole political segment, and what its effects are on Brazilian national and foreign policy regarding the human rights agenda.